In fact, they haven’t been so confident since the Liberals were last in power in Ottawa.

“Canadian small and mid-size business confidence made a step upward in April,” the Canadian Federation of Independent Business reported Wednesday, noting its business barometer rose 1.5 points to 70.7 in April to its highest level since 2005, which also happens to be the last year of more than a decade of Liberal government rule.

“Although it has been close in the past few months, this is the first time since early 2005 that the index has actually risen above the 70 mark,” said federation chief economist Ted Mallett.

But Mallet cautioned that there are big differences in the mood among firms in different parts of the country and in different sectors.

“The overall positive result masks some pretty large regional and sectoral differences—suggesting there are growing internal pressures in the economy.”

The surge in energy prices has widened the “outlook gap” between producing and consuming provinces, he said.

The level of confidence among businesses in Saskatchewan at 76.7, Alberta 75.1, Newfoundland and Labrador 74.1, Manitoba 74.3 and British Columbia72.6 is well above the national average, but lower in Quebec at 65, the New Brunswick 63, Nova Scotia 62.9, and Prince Edward Island 62.5.

“Perhaps the most surprising result is in Ontario, where optimism spiked upward by five points in the month (to 71.1), despite rising energy prices and the dollar,” Mallett said. “In particular, these forces have not dampened the outlooks of manufacturers, wholesalers or construction businesses.

“It remains to be seen if this is a sustainable trend,” he added.

Mallet played down the possible impact of the election on the results of the next survey, noting in an interview that elections themselves don’t tend to have an impact since the survey focuses on the outlook for the individual businesses not the overall economy.

However, business analysts generally agree that the election of a majority Conservative government should buoy the confidence of small and large businesses, providing among other things, nearly five years of political and government policy stability and Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s commitment to eliminate the deficit without raising taxes.

Also, the CFIB survey wasn’t the only one to find that confidence among small and medium sized firms on the rise.

A global survey of small and medium-sized firms that are engaged in international trade found that Canadian businesses have also become more confident about the outlook for the global economy and also that more are also looking beyond the traditional U.S. market for growth.

“Canadian companies will rely more on the emerging markets of China, Southeast Asia and Latin America, and less on the United States, as their primary source of trade growth over the next six months,” international banking giant HSBC said in releasing results of its semi-annual Trade Confidence Index survey.

“For Canadian companies surveyed, the United States remains the most promising region for trade growth over the next six months, at 38 per cent,” it said. “However, this is a 17 percentage point drop from the October 2010 survey.

China, Latin America, Southeast Asia and Central and Eastern Europe are the other top five growth hot spots for Canadian firms, it added.

And the outlook of Canadian businesses on the global economy over the next half-year is improving, it said, noting that 57 per cent expect an improvement over the next half-year, up from 48 per cent in the previous survey last October.

“Canadian respondents are increasingly comfortable that the global economy is stabilizing and they are less concerned about future economic contractions,” it said.

However, nearly 20 per cent are concerned over fluctuations and increases in the cost and availability of raw materials, many of which have seen price increases over the past six months, it also noted.

And they are also somewhat more worried that suppliers will not honour trade agreements and that buyers will default on payments, and as a result will increasingly demand advance payment, tightened payment terms and export credit insurance to mitigate their risk, it said.

Further, with the Canadian dollar remaining above parity with the U.S. dollar, the proportion saying that foreign exchange will be unfavourable rose to 41 per cent from 33 per cent.

Overall, however, global trade confidence among Canadian firms has remained steady over the past half year, it said.

The survey of 6,387 exporters and importers in 21 markets was conducted in February and March.